At its media event on Tuesday, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) unveiled its seventh-generation smartphone, the iPhone 5S, which will see its release date on Friday, Sept. 20. As we expected, the iPhone 5S looks nearly identical to its predecessor, but features a number of new specs and innovations within its sleek aluminum enclosure.

The iPhone 5S features the same 4-inch Retina display and chamfered diamond-cut edges, but the phone also comes with a number of new innards. The iPhone 5S also features a new A7 processor, which has a 40 times faster CPU performance and 56 times faster GPU performance over the original iPhone, and Open GL, just like the new Nexus 7. More important to note, however, the iPhone 5S comes equipped with Apple's new M7 chip, which contains all the motion-tracking hardware Apple needs to make its iWatch a reality. By packing so many components into the M7 motion co-processor, including an accelerometer, gyroscope and compass, the M7 can continuously measure motion data for the newest generation of health and fitness apps.

The iPhone 5S also features a slightly modified battery for greater life, a new camera system for slow-motion video photography, and a fingerprint sensor called Touch ID, which lets users authenticate ownership and user passwords by simply holding their thumbs on the iPhone’s signature home button.

Touch ID is 170 microsn thin, senses 550 ppi, and can scan one's sub-epidermal skin layers. With 360-degree readability, you can hold your thumb in any orientation and it can still be read correctly. The entire apparatus contains a tactile switch, Touch ID sensor, a stainless-steel detection ring and a laser-cut sapphire crystal, which makes it unscratchable. Touch ID can also handle multiple fingerprints too, so you can grant access to your iPhone 5S to only certain people.

The iPhone 5S also features a new camera system, which includes a new pill-shaped dual-LED flash and a tighter aperture. The dual-LED flash will help for lower-light settings, but its new camera aperture will also help control the amount of light in each photo.

What do you think of the iPhone 5S specs? Were you hoping for more features in the finished product? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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